Benjamin Franklin marble bust by Jean-Antoine Houdon, 1778. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Housekeeper gets 6 years in Ben Franklin bust theft

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Benjamin Franklin marble bust by Jean-Antoine Houdon, 1778. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Benjamin Franklin marble bust by Jean-Antoine Houdon, 1778. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

NORRISTOWN, Pa. (AP) – A housekeeper has been sentenced to six years in federal prison in the theft of a Benjamin Franklin bust stolen in suburban Philadelphia and reportedly worth $3 million.

Andrea Lawton, 47, of Mobile, Ala., was living in Philadelphia when the bust was taken Aug. 24 from a home where she had worked as a housecleaner. She fled to Alabama with the bust and was arrested Sept. 21 in Elkton, Md., where she planned to sell it.

Lawton pleaded guilty in December to a federal charge of interstate transportation of stolen property. She pleaded guilty in April to a separate state charge of burglary.

The 25-pound bust was made by French artist Jean-Antoine Houdon while Franklin visited Paris in 1778.

It was broken while in Lawton’s possession and is being repaired.

Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

AP-WF-05-20-13 1812GMT

ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE

Benjamin Franklin marble bust by Jean-Antoine Houdon, 1778. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Benjamin Franklin marble bust by Jean-Antoine Houdon, 1778. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

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